Reindeer Manor

“We neither confirm nor deny that Reindeer Manor is a real haunted house or not, we simply will present you with the facts and let you decide.

The grounds and buildings of what is now Reindeer Manor Haunted House have experienced a unique, mysterious, and somewhat stormy history. While documented facts are sketchy, by talking to various people who were around at the time, and through extensive research of public records, we have been able to piece together an accurate history.
In the early 1900’s, a two story wooden house stood on the site of the current house. The owner of the house was James Sharp, a prominent Texas oil pioneer and banker who was partnered with Howard Hughes Sr. in the famed Sharp-Hughes Tool Company. He leased the house and property to a family of Swedish immigrants because he was often away on business. Unfortunately, in the quiet early hours of one morning in 1915, the silence of the farm was shattered by screams. Lightning had sparked a tragic fire which quickly consumed the wooden house house. The entire family of sharecroppers, including several small children, perished in an unspeakably horrific death.

Upset by the fate of his tenants, or maybe just mad because of the loss of property, Mr. Sharp decided to build on the property again. He decided that this time the land and the buildings would be the crown jewel of his dwellings and would include a grand Main House which would forever be the family home. In so doing he made sure it would not succumb to something as pedestrian as fire. Even though it nearly tripled the cost of construction, he made sure all the buildings on the property were as fireproof as possible. This explains the unusual construction of virtually all the structures at the Manor, they are all almost entirely engineered with concrete, brick, and steel.

However, Fire was not the only tragedy looming. Before the Main House could be finished, Mr. Sharp suddenly perished. Records are sketchy at best, but he either shot himself or was shot by his mistress in his bedroom at his city house in Oak Cliff. With his wife and children still in New York awaiting the completion of their palatial estate, the only person in the house at the time of the incident was his personal secretary (who some say was also his mistress) and there is some suspicion that in fact it was she who pulled the trigger. The details are vague because of the bare semblance of an investigation at the time; the Widow Sharp didn’t want her husband’s rumored infidelity widely known and applied pressure on the County Sheriff to quickly close the investigation and thus end the wild speculation of the press and neighbors.

The coroners report simply states that the cause of death was due to “the loss of 2-3 ounces of brain substance” without further elaboration.

In 1917, shortly after the death of his father, James Sharp’s eldest son, James Jr. moved into the newly completed Manor, but the legacy of misfortune soon continued. He developed quite a prosperous operation farming the land, ranching, and breeding horses for harness racing. Between 1918 and 1928 many other buildings were added to the grounds, from servants quarters to a carriage house with various and sundry additions which a large Manor of a wealthy family is expected to have as well. Everyone thought the Sharp Family had survived the untimely death of its patriarch and had even come out better for it.

However, James Junior’s stewardship of the property was cut short with the onset of the Great Depression in October of 1929 which thrust the once wealthy family into abject poverty. His wife, a prominent spiritualist at the time was convinced that the family and the Manor itself were cursed and with ever falling income and creditors threatening, he began to act strangely. As the rumors of insanity spread within the staff he receded more and more into himself, shunning those with whom he had formerly been quite open and spending more and more time with his wife in her “unholy pursuits” as the help called it.

Constantly tormented by the whispers of a Sharp Family curse James and his wife were obsessed with finding a solution to their woes. Strange folk were seen going into and out of the Great House… from psychics to witch doctors, Mr. & Mrs. Sharp had invited anyone with access to the occult to his bedroom in the vain pursuit of lifting the hex. His wife held séances to contact his father from beyond the grave seeking his advice and council. Potions were mixed and incantations were chanted to rid the home and family from the string of bad luck. No one is sure if they were instructed by a “spirit” or simply came upon the solution on their own, but soon the couple found a way to bring the Sharp Family out of the shadows.

The final chapter of the Sharp family in the history of Reindeer Manor ended with the discovery of James Junior’s wife dead by poisoning in the main dining room and his lifeless body swinging from a noose strung from the rafters of the barn. To this day it is not clear who killed whom or if it was a suicide pact. Either way the curse was lifted from the Sharp Family at the very least. There was no heir.

After that tumultuous period the Manor fell into ruin. Since then a few brave souls have tried to turn this house of disaster into a home, but all have failed. The construction of the house proved too difficult to remodel and make livable and the locals were afraid of incurring the wrath of the curse themselves. Thus, the house stood vacant and abandoned until 1974 when it became The Haunted House at Reindeer Manor.

Over the years, folks that work and visit Reindeer Manor have experienced many strange occurrences. Unearthly noises are heard by those who spend the night during the work season. Locals have seen eerie lights dancing in the windows of the buildings when the entire property was vacant. And most everyone who enters the house alone feels as if someone is watching them or feels “cold spots” in some places. Some have professed to see actual spirits or objects floating in thin air.” – Reindeer Manor

Grayson Paranormal Society has had the privilege of investigating Reindeer Manor on several occasions, and is one of our team’s favorite locations to investigate. Each time we investigate there, we seem to get a lot of EVP’s. There is no hard facts about any children dying on the Reindeer Manor property. However, during our first investigation at Reindeer Manor, we captured a very stunning, and saddening EVP. We were in the main manor house, in a lab room, which was formerly the kitchen/dining room. I was suddenly getting very ill. And I was trying to communicate with the woman who died by poisoning in that room. However, at this time, we were not aware that there had been a poisoning anywhere on the property.

We were in the lab doing an EVP session. I was sitting, and Jack was standing a few feet away from me. We were the only two in the area. I started feeling very ill, as if I had been poisoned. Before I started feeling ill, I had a very strong feeling that a female spirit was trying to communicate with me, but I could not figure out what she was trying to say. She refused to try to communicate with Jack, because she is very afraid of men (since her husband poisoned her, that doesn’t surprise me). After I had started feeling ill, I asked, out loud “Did your husband poison you, which is how you passed away?” And immediately after I asked that, the sick feeling went away. During evidence review, we captured a very interesting EVP. As I started feeling sick, there was a child voice saying “Mommy?” Followed by an adult female voice saying “Go, run!” To me, this was residual, reliving the night when the family was murdered. We later learned, that after the husband poisoned his wife (again, no records of children), he then went out to the barn, and took his own life by hanging himself. The part of the barn where he took his own life still stands today. Every time we’re investigating the Manor, we always seem to get very interesting orbs around that area. All sorts of orbs, in a variety of color. We have captured white, green, red, orange, etc.

During another visit to Reindeer Manor, it was one of our members very first investigations. She and Jack went into the left side of the barn (it’s divided into three sections). Sarah felt very threatened in that area. We later picked up on the name Frank. After spending no more than ten minutes in that side of the barn, Sarah left the building, with three scratches on the side of her neck, that only lasted about five minutes. This could be an indication of a demonic entity, however, we just believe it’s a human spirit that does not like women.

After she had left the building, physically shaken (naturally), we were all right outside the barn, trying to calm her down. My digital recorder was going. A few minutes after Jack and Sarah left the barn, we captured a Class A EVP of a woman singing “Good morning, good morning, it’s fun to stay up late.” When that EVP was captured, it was about 11pm.

There’s also some ruins that is now known as the ‘Slave Quarters’. This area is also very active. It’s rumored that the Sharp family treated the slaves very well. The family’s names, that are known, are Jorge (the Father), and Lillie (daughter). The Sharp family treated the entire family as if they were related. However, once the adults grew too old to work, they began to get mistreated. During the same investigation as discussed above, we investigated this area. We decided to leave a recorder going, while we left the area for a few minutes. During which time this EVP was captured. It simply says “He hurt my baby”. I believe this is the Mother talking about James Sharp hurting Lillie.

During one of our last investigations at Reindeer Manor, the activity seemed to increase. I believe it could be because the spirits there are more aware of us now, and even know us better, so they feel more comfortable talking with us. While we were getting the tour for those who had never been there before, myself and another investigator stayed behind in the lab (formerly the kitchen area), because we were feeling spirits present. All of a sudden, we both got the feeling as if they were closing in on us, telling us to get out. So, feeling threatened, we left.

Later on, after we started investigating, we were again in the main manor house doing an EVP session in the ‘library’. Jack excused himself, not saying where he was going. At the right timing, we heard footsteps going up into the attic, followed by loud footsteps and other noises coming from the attic. So, naturally we all thought that he had gone up into the attic to investigate a little up there. All the time, we were noting our recorders, saying “That’s Jack up in the attic”. A few minutes later, Jack rejoined us in the ‘library’. We were asking him why he was making so much noise up in the attic. He looked at us confused, and said “I didn’t go up there, I went outside to get something to drink.” We all thought he was joking, but after five minutes of him swearing up and down that it wasn’t him, we were speechless. The spirit that did this was obviously very intelligent, and was able to pull one over on all of us.

Needless to say, Reindeer Manor is an awesome place to do an investigation. If you are a skeptic, visit Reindeer Manor once for a full investigation, and I promise, you will leave a believer.

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